I hired this “architect” Patric Simmen sometime back in 2023, and I just want to warn anyone here who is thinking of using them, to stay far, FAR away. Warn your friends! I wish someone else had warned me earlier. It would have saved me so much time and money. And so I am just posting this here, hoping that at least 1 person benefits from it. I personally know 2 other people who have used them for interior design services and both of them are extremely unhappy and totally regret it. (unfortunately I only met them after everything blew up). In my case, he conned us of a LOT of money, making us paying invoice after invoice even though he hadn’t done the work. They designed a house that was basically unbuildable. Eventually we had to fire him because so many of the contractors didn’t want to work with him, and those who were willing to, wanted to charge us between 50 - 100% more than what was estimated. In the process of looking for a new architect, I found out that one firm in Zurich had already taken over 7 of Simmengroup’s other terminated projects – projects where clients have fired them mid-way through the process because they were so unhappy. I also found out that other reputable architects think Simmengroup is a total joke. When I told other architecture firms that I had used Simmengroup initially, many of them were in complete shock and felt so sorry for us. It was weird, one of them even said “oh my God I am so so sorry.” even though it had nothing to do with him. 😅 Patric Simmen actually has no formal architecture education, he is just a draftsman who calls himself an architect. I think that speaks for itself. The problem is, that their Instagram is really well done, really impressive, and that’s how they get most of their business. They have beautiful designs and pictures and renderings, and Patric does have nice aesthetic taste. BUT then we encounter the issue that a drawing might be slightly different from an actual building!! What he designs often cannot be realistically translate into an actual architectural design. It’s like trying to build a house IRL that you designed in The Sims. But Patric Simmen doesn’t care about that, he would just tell you it’s someone else’s fault, and now this area needs to torn down and rebuilt and now it will cost 60,000 more. I could go and on and on (and on and on), but I won’t. Just steer clear if you were thinking of using them. Also if you Google you should be able to find that he is currently being sued by multiple different parties. ps: using a throwaway account because i was once cyber bullied by a business before (I left a single, truthful negative review and they did not like that). submitted by /u/Wise-Highlight7551
Originally posted by u/Wise-Highlight7551 on r/Switzerland